Christian Photographers Community

Psalm 145:17-19 says...

The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.

The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.

He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them.







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Psalm 147:10-11 says...

He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man.

The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.
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Morning Devotional...

The Shepherd's Psalm--Part (iv)

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Some years ago, I was hiking alone in England. The trail (or as the English say, the "footpath")—was isolated and very poorly marked. This is a rare situation in England, known to hikers as the land of well marked trails. At one point, as I later discovered, only a couple of miles from the end, I became disoriented. I was tired and lonely and hungry. There seemed to be no other humans for miles. What should I do now? I longed to meet another hiker, or a local resident; even a friendly dog would have been a relief. No one suddenly or miraculously appeared. No laughing border collie wagged its welcoming tail.

What would you have done in similar circumstances? Well, I found a comfortable rock, slipped off my rucksack and sat down. Then I ate the lunch I should have eaten about two hours earlier and drank a half of a liter of water. My energy returned. Using my map and compass, I figured out my location and with a spring in my step, walked to the bus stop in the little town that marked the end of my hike.

As we move on to verse three of Psalm 23 and meditate upon it, we see the wonderful promises it contains for life's journey. "He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake" (Psalm 23:3) The words are overflowing with comfort and encouragement for all the members of the Good Shepherd's flock. No believer is left out and it is applied on an individual basis. The lovely truths of this psalm are not mere generalities. We do not read: "He restores our souls" Such a statement would be welcome encouragement for God's people, but how grandly greater is the assurance "He restores my soul". He cares about me! He loves the world but, praise His name He loves me. Yes, my friend, if you are His you can personally claim this blessing of restoration, no matter how withered and drooping you feel.

Day by day we all move along, sometimes reluctantly on the journey of life. At times our happy feet march to the triumphant music of success. At other times we drag ourselves weary and worn, and perhaps even broken along the ruggedly steep paths of life—over rocks and ridges and along precipices dangerous and frightful. This lies in the nature of being human. Sometimes we have cheerful and supportive companions on this great trail of life. These may include a spouse, family, friends or fellow Christians. But at times we plod on not only tired but seemingly alone and perhaps unwanted. The way seems miserable, the going is rough and the shadows are lengthening.

When the traveling is wearisome and lonely, and our minds are stretched, elastic like, to their limits the awful ghosts of past sins and desires are inclined to haunt us. Regrets dart from the dark recesses of the mind and mingle with the cares of today and the fears of tomorrow. Like a delicate flower on a dry and windswept hillside we begin to wither, and the serene look gives place to frowns and wrinkles.

When our spiritual pilgrimage becomes unbearable, we need to take time out. We must take time to rest in God's presence. As the Bible enjoins us we must be "Be still and know that I am God." (Psalm 46:10)

If we take time to rest in His presence we can refresh our spirits as we enjoy the sustenance of God's word and drink deeply at the "wells of Salvation". Then using the compass of God's truth, we can set our course towards home in the eternal City, just as our great spiritual forefather Abraham did. "By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God." (Hebrews 11:8-10).

If our own foolish misconduct, our own sin and rebellion is the root of our withered and miserable condition, restoration is, bless God, still available.  And who among us has not sinned over and over again in the years since first we trusted Christ? God calls us to confession and repentance and provides cleansing for the sinning hart. The gospel for the sinning saint is found in I John 1:6-9, "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." And believing this we can humbly say amen to the words, "He restoreth my soul".

King David cried out to God in anguish of soul "Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways and sinners shall be converted to You." (Psalm 51:9-13).

God heard his heart rending wail "Hide thyself from my sins and blot out all my iniquities." God graciously restored David to fellowship with Himself and gave him back the joy of salvation.

David and every other repentant, sinning believer can claim with joy overflowing: "He restoreth my soul." Only the forgiven can appreciate the warmth of His tender love.

Perhaps one of my friends will confess in his or her own heart. "I have repented oh, so often; but I keep falling on the rocks of temptation and sliding on the slippery scree of evil desire. What can I do? I've tried to gain the mastery over a particular weakness and failed again and again. I think I am doomed—sin is in my very nature". Like David, you cry out "Behold I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." (Psalm 51:5)

There is good news in the verse before us for those who are in such a predicament. Look at Psalm 23:3, "He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake."
God's children have yearned over the centuries for power to break the binding habits of sin. The Lord Jesus taught His own disciples to pray, "Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil." Does God answer this prayer? Yes, if we obey His command in Jeremiah 6:16, "Thus says the Lord: 'Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is. And walk in it: Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it'."

We are to ask after the old way, and upon finding it we are to walk therein. Many professing Christians, like Jeremiah's hearers, sadly refuse to walk in the old paths; they are doomed to keep on repeating the same old sins, and living the same old life of spiritual mediocrity. The path can be found where the Lord Jesus is. After the resurrection, two of His disciples made a journey to Emmaus. These two disciples don't appear to have been any of the twelve apostles, and it seems probably that they were a married couple. In any case, they were sad and discouraged. Their hopes had been dashed—the one they thought would deliver their nation from the iron yoke of Roman bondage was dead and buried. There was something however, that they didn't know about. Christ had risen from the dead in triumph over sin and the grave.

A marvelous thing happened as they trod the weary Emmaus Road that day. "So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them." (Luke 24:15) These two dear people didn't recognize their beloved master until later but something should have tipped them off--the presence of the Man of Calvary made a great difference to their walk that day, "And they said to one another, 'Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?'." (Luke 24:32).

If we walk in His company and seek to know Him in the scriptures, our hearts too will burn within us. They will burn with love to Him and with a strong desire to obey His commandments. Then shall we understand in a spiritual sense the words of Isaiah 35:1, "The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them." And they shall walk in "the Way of Holiness" (Isaiah 35: and we will experience the promise of Psalm 23:3, "He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake".

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Jack Scott loved his Lord! He passed away on January 10, 2001 after a lengthy illness.
He is missed greatly by his family.

I'm putting this in again as it was so late when our new friend joined us. 

It's Suzanne's Birthday today!

Thank you, Pat, for the birthday wish and the prayers 

Happy Birthday to Suzanne!  That's a very pretty rose which Pat put on your greeting, isn't it?  You can almost smell the fragrance.  Hope you have a wonderful day.
~Janice

Welcome to LadyLiberty!  Nice name. 
~Janice

Great to see you, Suzanne!  So glad you popped in.  Make sure you pop in later too as I'm sure many will wish you "Happy Birthday!"  Yes, I'm still praying about your situation as are others.  Have a wonderful day!


Janice!  What a breath of fresh air to see you posting!  How are you?  How is your husband?  About the same?  Love you..

I've been so busy that here it is 2:45 am and I'm just about to go to bed!! 

  Happy haPPY happy HAPpy haPpy happY HYppy BIRTHDAY 

Ms Suzanne, it is my hope it is a very special day for you. It is fun to see you here, I did not see you for SO long. I pray you are well.

Mr Anthony the funny dance man did make me have a smile all day. It was too funny and Ms Soni too and ms Bice and every one.

  I am SO happy if they can make the visa more easy to get for me.    It is my every wish to live again in the USA with my family. It is SO hard to get the visa today.  :(My visa it is not good any more to live here it is why I did need to go back to the China. It is very hard to come back. 

Jack Scott loved his Lord! He passed away on January 10, 2001 after a lengthy illness.
He is missed greatly by his family.
Ms Pat I am happy you honor mr Jack Scott. the words they are a treasure for so many. He is missed greatly by his family and today he is loved by many friends he did not know. 

Ms Karmat i miss you. I pray you are well. 

It is my hope it is a most wonderful day for every one today. 
I love you all 
and I love you God   

Hi, Pat!!!

And there's Mieka! 
Hi there Miss Mieka, how nice to see you!
~Janice

  OH ms Janice HOW FUN to see you today (((HUG)))

I am SO slow to make a post at times every one did make a post and I did not see you are here.
I pray you are well.


And A welcome to ms Ladyliberty. I am mieka, it is very nice to meet you here. I know you will love every one here. 

Pat, I am doing OK.  Kind of tired with so much going and all.  Earl had a bit of surgery last week.  Also he had a dizzy spell and fell to the ground.  Got a bit bruised up.  Saw the doctor Friday and he has ordered some tests to be done tomorrow.
One of these days we will have a nice quiet retirement.  Or is there such a thing?  :-) 
But - it's like my dear auntie used to say, when troubles came along, "Even so, Jesus Christ is still the same!"  How true.  We must keep our eyes on Him.
How are you doing?  I have been so out of touch, and sometimes when I can't sleep I do get here and read a little bit.  I hope you have been well.
Love, Janice

PS, hello to everyone else who comes here today.

Hello everyone.  Before I do anything this morning, I must tell you all I have posted an extremely important message in the photography forum.  Could I ask everyone to take part in signing this urgent petition.  Go to the thread by clicking this link.  Thank you for your co-operation.

Anthony.

I've signed it, Anthony.

It's a very serious document everyone so please sign it.

Good morning everyone.  Thanks for signing the petition Pat, I hope others put their signature to it as well.  Thank you everyone for signing my guestbook, you have made one little girl have a happy fit.  Pat, I told Mandy about the lady from Canada.  Next week I will give her a printout of the comments.

I really enjoyed Jack's message this morning about the Good Shepherd.  I don't feel 100% so the thoughts that he has brought to us this morning seem even more pertinent.

I trust everyone will have a great day today and I look forward to popping in later on to see all of the added comments.

Happy birthday Suzanne.  We might be getting older, but every day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before as the song goes.

Hello Janice, it is good to see you today and Meika what a great dancing day yesterday was.  I do trust that you will be able to get a visa to live in the U.S.A. again.  This is something we must pray for.

God bless all,

Anthony.

DEUTERONOMY 7 : 26 NIV
Do not bring a destestable thing into your house or you,
like it, will be set apart for destruction.
Utterly abhor and detest it, for it is set apart for destruction.

A little corruption, a little poison, and a little rotten are all oymorons.
God has made us pure and perfect in Jesus.
What a glorious thought!
Why would we want to stain his perfection with what is evil.
Our Father wants us to dedicate ourselver to Him,
and to living as His holy people. (Rom. 12 : 1-2; 1 Pet. 1: 13-16).

Prayer...
Holy and Righteous God, please empower me
to resist temptation and to run away from sin.
Give me a more passionate desire to cherish and
protect the purity You have given me by the sacrifice
of Jesus.
Give me a holy revulsion to evil and wickedness.
Draw my heart closer to Your own and give me
a passion for Your holiness.
Thank You for making me holy and precious in Your sight.
In Jesus name. AMEN
                                                              PHIL WARE.
Ria 

Good morning/afternoon 12.06 in Holland 

PAT thank you for the devotionals yesterday and today writen by your husband Jack.
I hope and shall be happy for you when you get your car back today.

JANET also your writing yesterday was very good.

MIEKA i hope and pray you get your visa for America. Love you dear Mieka.

KATHY i am so happy that you are back on CP, i have missed you.

RUTH ANN i think you have had a very nice birthday i love you

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUZANNE
HAVE A NICE DAY

A very busy day this morning we have had friends for coffee
This afternoon i go to my father helping him to make his house clean.
Also this week a lot in the bookstore and i will this week go to the other forums
there have i the last time not a lot been. No time with all that painting.
I am very happy that it is readdy in home.

MARK 13:13
He who stands firm to the end will be saved.

                                         VICTORY

                                Lord, turn my trials to triumph,
                                my times of testing to victory...
                                     Let me know the blessing
                                     of standing firm for You.

Love and prayerfully for you all
Ria   


                                                   

Anthony!   Okay................maybe I was a bit petulant yesterday, but it IS really discouraging to post photos, then come back the next day and find that not even one person has posted a comment on some of them.!  Thank you to those of you who are faithful to look and to comment, it helps the one who posts know that at least someone is looking!  If you don't SAY anything, how are we to know you looked??  At any rate, since several have looked and commented, I will continue to post.  And Jane, Marilyn and those who posted BEFORE I said that, a special thank you to you! 

I am up so early I thought I would at least be on page one, so it is shaping up to be a busy day here on CP.  Anthony, I love seeing your sense of humor here.  It tells me you must be feeling better now than at some times.

WELCOME LADYLIBERTY!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SUZANNE!!!

Darrel had to be up very early today to go to Garden City and install an alarm system in a restaurant.  He would like to be finished before their lunch rush, as he cannot work when people are moving about inside.  Can't have ladders and stuff in the way.  I think I may see if I can go back to sleep for an hour or so before Abby wakes.

Janice!  What a treat to see you here today!  I think of you often and wonder how you and Earl are doing, so thanks for the update.  (((hugs)))

Mieka, always good to see you posting!!  Love you, little one!

And I have more photos to post a bit later..................

Hi there, Ria!  We were posting at the same time, I almost ran into you!  I love you, my special Dutch friend!

             


                         LADYLIBERTY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SUZANNE
Good morning to all and thanks for the devotional, Pat  It really touched me this morning. 

Wow, I come here in a rush to get to work and see another old friend, Lady Liberty! Good to see you.

Suzanne, I hope your birthday is absolutely wonderful and that life during this year will be good - full of love and trust and blessings from our Lord.

Ruth Ann

Today is July 26!  On June 26, my car broke!  It's been a whole month today! They just phoned me to say that it's fixed!

Whooooooeeeeee!!!!  I'm to phone him when I'm ready and he's driving over to pick me up to take me to get it! 



Don't forget to sign Anthony's document!

Good Morning to one and all who will enter this blessed site today.

I had no trouble getting up at 4:30 am  however I didn't realize I could get tot he church in 5 minutes so I was there 10 minutes before the others. There were 8 of us who gathered for prayer this morning. God Showed up and WOW what a great session we had.

Thank you Pat and Ria for the devotionals. I also signed the petetion.

Must go look at the prayer thread and the photos before I go to work.

TTYL[/b]

Happy Birthday, Suzanne!!!

Good morning, one and all! 

Janet, please do not stop posting pictures.  If I missed commenting on anyone's post, I am truly sorry.  I know how much the comments mean to me and I try to comment on all pictures.  I may not reply to all on NEM but that is me...again, I don't want to hurt any ones feelings and do not want anyone to feel left out.  I read all the NEM posts.

Church was awesome yesterday.  Jerry and I didn't have to stay as late as usual because we ran out of tapes to duplicate...so we asked that they fill out requests and we will have them ready for next Sunday. 

Jerry and I ate out for lunch and then he followed me here so he could watch his race on TV.  I recorded it so even though the race was already into an hour, he got to see it in it's entirety.

I got my phone call and Donna and I are meeting for lunch tomorrow.  It will be great to see her and refresh our friendship. 

I have a Pampered Chef party to go to tonight.  My exes daughter is going to be a demonstrator and this will be her first showing.  Yes, like Janet, my ex and I are friends...we just couldn't stay married way back when   

I think I might have picked up a bug yesterday.  I just feel kind of blah today and that is very unusual for me.  I am seldom sick!!!  So hopefully with rest I will be fine for tonight and for lunch tomorrow. 

God bless you all!!!

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"The Bible says that my body is the temple of the Holy-Spirit...and it started with a building program that just got out of hand."    

Nine Men Change America


Be warned, you rulers of the earth! (Psalm 2:10, NLT).


Dear friends:

In the mid-20th century, all by themselves, nine men brought a
revolutionary change to America.  These nine men were the members of the
U.S. Supreme Court.

For most of our nation's history, the justices recognized that they were
subject to a higher law found in God's Word. The Court viewed law as
President Calvin Coolidge did when he declared, "Men do not make laws,
they do but discover them. Laws must be justified by something more than
the will of the majority. They must rest upon the eternal foundations of
righteousness.

But in early 1947, an entirely new agenda gripped the Court. In Everson
v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment
erected a "wall of separation" between church and state which must be
kept "high and impregnable." Astonishingly, the Court cited no precedent
from previous rulings. The case was an official betrayal of America's
Christian heritage.

In this landmark decision, the Court lifted the words "separation of
church and state" totally out of context from a single Thomas Jefferson
letter, not even an official document, changed his intent, totally
ignored the context of the message, Jefferson's many other words, and
the many utterances of other Founding Fathers and all legal precedents,
and instituted this radically new concept in law. 

Jefferson's letter was to a group of Baptists who were concerned about a
rumor that another denomination was about to be made the official
national denomination.  He wrote to assure them that such would not
happen because the First Amendment has erected "a wall of separation
between church and state."  This, however, was in the context of the
entire letter, emphasizing that God's principles would remain in
government, but that the government would not run the church. 

The words "separation of church and state" do not appear anywhere in the
U.S. Constitution or amendments.  The First Amendment merely states that
the Congress shall make no law that establishes a religion, or prohibits
its free exercise.   The purpose of the First Amendment was to prevent
what the Founding Fathers had experienced in Great Britain: government
control by a single denomination.  In those days, the word "religion"
was synonymous with the phrase "Christian denomination." 

The record overwhelmingly proves that our Founding Fathers never
intended for biblical influence and principles to be excluded from
public life.  Such a dramatic spiritual downturn in America began in
1947.

Yours for fulfilling the Great Commission
each year until our Lord returns,

Bill Bright

Janet, I loved the quote by Coolidge about laws being discovered rather than made.  He must have been a wise man.  Unfortunately people not so wise have used a different set of values to damage the morality of your country.  We can all take comfort in the words of that song:

I love the words to that song.  It really builds my faith up to consider these truths.

Anthony.

Let's sing...

Anthony, I love those words as well.  I'd like to get the midi for it.